Cap-making machine.



W. L. SHEPARD.

CAP MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.2, 1914.

6 SHEETS Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

W. L. SHEPARD.

CAP MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1914.

Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

6 SHEETSSHEET 2.

W. L. SHEPARD.

CAP MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2. I914.

Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W. L. SHEPARD.

CAP MAKING MACHINE,

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 19x4.

Patented Oct. 24., 1916.

6SHEETSSHEET 4.

W. L. SHEPARD.

CAP MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1914.

Patented Oct. 211, 1916.

6 SHEETS SHEET 5.

W. L. SHEPARD.

. CAP MAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1914.

lutvntvd 001'. 24, 1916.

6 SHEETSSHEET 6.

' raoaaac.

WENDELL L. SHEPARD, 0F TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, '10 KEYSTONE CAP COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE.

CAP-MAKTNG MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 2, 1914. Serial No. 869,911:

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WENDELL L. SHEPARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Trenton, Mercer county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Cap-Making Machines, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide a relatively simple, compact and efficient machine for making milk-bottle caps or similar punched pieces, the various parts being so arranged that a web of paper is first printed in one or more colors with the directions or advertising matter which it is desired shall appear on the finished caps, after which the printed parts of the paper web are cut' out and then returned to the holes in'the web, which carries them from the machine proper to reciprocating strippers designed to force them out of the holes in which they have been held by friction. The caps are then collected upon a suitable conveyer which delivers them to a paraffinapplying apparatus, or to any desired receptacle.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel means for removing from a punching machine, milk bottle caps or other pieces after they have been punched or cut from a web of sheet material.

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying draw ings, in which Figures 1- and 2 are elevations of the opposite sides of the preferred form of machine constructed according to my ,invention; Figs. 3 and 4 are elevations of the opposite ends of the machine; Fig. 5 is an elevation, partly in section, taken on the line aa,

' Fig. 1; Figs. 6 and 7 are enlarged transverse vertical sections taken on the lines b-b and cc, Figs. 5 and 4, respectively, illustrating the detail construction of the printing and punching mechanism of my machine; Fig. A is a plan of a portion of the paper web after a series of caps have been cut therefrom; Fig. 9 is aplan of a bottle cap printed and cut out by my machine, and Fig. 10 is a plan of part of my machine.

open rectangular frames 3, 4 and 5 of which i the first two are designed to carry the printing mechanism and the last is for the purpose of supporting the punching or cutting out apparatus. Each of these frames has a suitably projecting bracket 6 providing bearings for a driving shaft 7, on which is rotatably mounted a driving pulley 8. Fixed to the shaft is a fly wheel 9, with three beveled pinions 10, 11 and 12, there being provided a clutch 13 whereby the driving pulley 8 may be operatively connected to or disconnected from said shaft 7 at will. For operating this clutch, I connect an arm 14 to its movable member and attach the outer end of said arm to a rod 15 slidably mounted in arms 16 projecting from two of the bearing brackets 6. Thisrod has fixed to it a pair of handles 17 whereby it may be operated from either end of the machine. The two frames 3 and 4 with the printing mechanism carried thereby are substantial duplicates of each other for the purpose of two- 'color printing, and obviously either of them may be omitted or a greater number than two may be employed without departing from my invention.

In the case of the frame 3, for example, a

shaft 18 extends through suitable bearings ing the sections 23 and 24.

Hinged to the member 24 of the connecting rod is a casting 27 forming a head on which are adjustably carried a series of blocks 28, each having fixed to it an electrotypejplate or other structure 29 forming a printing member. Each of these blocks is held to the head 27 by two bolts 30 and 31, extending at right angles to each other, the first passing through a vertical slot in the head so as to be movable with its block toward and from the front of the machine, while the second bolt is carried by a plate 32 extending downwardly from one edge of the head 27. The electrotype is held to the block 28 by clamps or any other suitable means, and the press bed with which said type co'ciperates is formed by the transverse bottom member of the frame 3, on which is mounted a pad 33 of any suitable material, such as cardboard..

For supplying ink to the type I provide a fountain consisting of a container 34 mounted on one face of the frame 3 and having its bottom formed by a suitable roller posite sides of the frame 3, and has fixed on one end an arm 44 provided with a pin 45 operative in a cam groove 46, formed'in a disk 50 (Fig. 1) carried by the, shaft 18; the arrangement of parts being such that while the head 27 is raised, the arms 40 and 39 are so turned aS to cause the roller 38 to pass over the face of the electrotype 29 into engagement with the roller 37 and thence back over the electrotype to the position shown in Fig. 6.

At either side of the frame 3 immediately under the roller 38, I form a U-shaped structure 47 of a thin bar or heavy wire extending form front to back in such positions as to receive and support the roller 38 in case the springs 42 should break in order to prevent it from so far falling as to be damaged by catching on the bed portion of the frame 3.

A second laterally elongated bar or wire structure 48 is also provided preferably immediately in front of the bed portion ofthe frame, in position to receive and hold down the paper web 00 just before it passes over the bed. Both of these frames or supporting structures 47 and 48 are preferably held in place by the nuts of the bolts 49, which primarily hold the frame 3 to the base structure 1 of the machine.

Any suitable gearing may be employed for actuating the inking rollers, though in this instance I have shown each of the cam disks 50 as having grooves for the reception of a driving belt 51 extending around a second as have been used in describing said mecha- IllSIIl.

For feeding the paper web m through the machine, I provide a pair of nip rolls 56 and 57, whose spindles are supported in bearings carried by brackets 58 at the front end of the base structure 1. The spindle of the .roller 57 has fixed to it a gear wheel 59 meshing with a second gear wheel 60 carried by the spindle of the roller 56, which also has fixed to it a ratchet wheel 61 acted on by a pawl 62 carried by an arm 63 pivoted on said roller spindle. This arm through a link 64, is connected to the cam disk 50 so that as the latter rotates said arm is oscillated and causes the pawl 62 to periodically turn the ratchet wheel 61, with the rollers 56 and 57, through a predetermined angle.

For cutting out the caps from the paper sheet an, I provide on the frame a suitable punch mechanism consisting primarily of a transverse shaft 65 journaled in the top portion of said frame and driven from the pinion 12 on the main shaft 7 through a beveled gear wheel 66. As shown in Fig. 4, this shaft has two cranks 67, on each of which is mounted a connecting rod 68, and both of said rods are pivoted or hinged to a head 69 slidably guided in ways at the side of the frame 5. Two lines of punches 70 (Fig. 7 are supported by this head so that those of one line are staggered relatively to those of the other, and both sets are removably mounted in a block 71 held to the under side of the head 69 by bolts 72 passing through slots therein in such manner that it may be adjusted across the head, by proper manipulation of screws 73 passing through arms 74attached to the latter. Each of the punches consists of a hollow cylinder having a sharpened lower edge and provided with an ejecting plunger 75 normally maintained adjacent said edge by means of a spring 76.

The lower member of the frame 5 carries a transversely extending block 77 on which are detachably supported a series of disks 78, so placed as to co-act with the punches 70.

Supported on arms 79 projecting rearwardly from the punch head 69 are two series of stripper plungers 80 and 81, whose center lines are so spaced apart as to correley 84 on a shaft 85 journa led in bearings adjustably carried by brackets 86. This shaft carries a roller 87, around which passes a conveyer belt 88 extending also under a plate or table 89 having openings in the line of movement of the plungers 80 and 81 and so placed that the paper web it passes over it. After its passage over said table this paper web is guided around a'roller 90 and thence to a winding roll.

Under conditions of operation, the shaft 7 is driven by power applied to the belt wheel 8, and in turn causes rotation of the two shafts 20 and the shaft 65. Through the belts 51, the inking rollers are also rotated and the cam grooves 46 of the cams 50 acting on the pins 45 of the arms 44 periodically cause the ink distributing rollers 38 to collect ink from the rollers 37 and deliver it to the printing faces of the electrotypes29; it being understood that while in the present case two sets of these latter are applied to the blocks 28 and while different colored inks are supplied to the two fountains 34, any desired number of sets may be employed without departing from my invention. I

The paper or pasteboard web from which the caps are to be made is of a width determined by the number of punches, and is directed between the nip rolls 56 and 57 by guide plates 92 fixed to a cross bar 93 adjacent the opposite ends of the same, so that it is delivered through said rolls in a predetermined position relatively to the other parts of the machine. These nip rolls are periodically actuated through the link 64; arm 63, pawl 62 and ratchet wheel 61, and therefore at each operation of the machine feed the web m forward a distance which in the present case is equal to some multiple of the distance between the centers of the frames 3 and 4 or 4 and 5. l,

Owing to the revolution of the shafts 20, the heads 27 carrying the electrotypes or type, etc., are reciprocated in the guideways of their respective frames 4. and the various parts are so assembled that such reciprocation takes place while the paper web :0 is

held from moving by the nip rolls 56 and 57.

are reciprocated therewith.

ous that if desired, the type may be omitted from any particular portion'of the block '28, so that blank spaces will be left which are later filled in with printed material in the differently colored ink applied by the printing mechanism carried on the frame 4. It is also to be noted that more or less of the electrotypes of either or both rows may be different, if desired,

At the next operation of the feed or nip rolls 56 and 57, the paper web m is moved forward for the predetermined distance, and finally that portion of said web whichv was previously printed is brought into proper position under the type carried by the frame 4, it being obvious that the type carrying block 28 of this second frame may be adjusted so that when the head 27 is reciprocated, the impressions will be made on the web in proper register relatively to the imprlessions previously made in ink of another co or.

Succeeding'operations of the feed rolls 56 and 57 bring the printed portions of the paper web under the punch head 69, which upon being reciprocated, causes the punches 70 to cut out the two lines of printed disks from said web and after receiving said disks within their bodies during the completion of the down stroke of the punch head, return them under the action of the spring pressed plungers 75, to the holes from which they have been cut, fiush with the surface of the web. The parts of the machine are so proportioned and adjusted that the disks of material cut out have the printed material previously applied to the web properly centered upon them, and upon the next movement of,said web or after a certain number of said movements, that portion thereof carrying the cut out pieces of material is brought directly under the stripping plungers 80 and 81. which being carried by arms 79 attached to the punch 69, Upon the next succeeding downward movement of the punch head, the plungers 81 are first caused to engage the disks of one line, while those of the other line are immediately thereafter engaged by the plungers 80, so that both sets of disks are forced out of the holes in the paper web in which they have previously been carried, and are dropped on to the traveling apron or conveyer 88, while the punched paper web passes around guide roll 90 to a suitable receptacle or winding roll.

Obviously if all of the caps or pieces formed by the punches are all alike as to size and printed matter upon them, a single receptacle placed at the discharge end of the conveyer 88 would be used to collect them. One feature of my invention, however, resides in the provision ofnieans whereby differently printed caps may be sorted the bars 47 effectually guide the web formed by the respective punches or by a plurality of sets of adjacent punches and 'printing apparatus.

In the case illustrated, the machine is .so

adjusted that the caps formed and printed.

by each pair of adjacent punches and their cooperating type are alike, and in order that the caps in each pair of adjacent lines may be directed to a single receptacle I pro vide laterally adjustable deflectors as shown in Fig. 10. These consist of flat and preferably pointed pieces 100 of suitable material mounted, on a crossbar 101 extending over the conveying apron 88, preferably adjacent its dischargingend and so arranged that the caps if two adjacent lines, indicated at yy, are so shifted on the conveyer as to be delivered into a single receptacle 102. The caps from two other lines indicated at 3 y are likewise so moved upon the apron as to be delivered into another receptacle 103, etc.

Obviously suitable numbers of the deflectors-100 may be removed so that the caps in any desired number of lines may be delivered all into a single receptacle which would necessarily be of suitable dimensions to receive them. Of course, if the caps delivered by the machine were spaced sufliciently far apart upon the apron 88 the deflectors 100 would not be required since said caps would be delivered into properly placed receptacles 102103 without necessitating alteration of their positions.

By forming one set of stripping punches of such length as to engage one set of the frictionally held disks in the web before the other is engaged, the work required of the machine in stripping is performed at two different times rather than all at one time, while by returning the cut out disks to the web and thereafter moving them with it away from the punches, I effectually prevent any clogging or other interference with the action of the apparatus. The cross member of the bar 48 adjacent the punch head' 69 serves as a stripper to prevent-therise of the paper web with the punches, while as it passes through the machine.

'I claim 1. The combination in a cap punching machine of a web feeding device; a punch head; means for reciprocating said head; a series of punches carried by the head; means a for returning to the web the disks cut out by the punches; and strippers carried by the head in position to directly engage and remove the disks held by the web after the latter has carried them away from the punches.

2. The combination in a cap punching machine of a Web feeding device; a hollow reciprocable punch; a yieldingly supported plunger carried thereby in position to return to the web the disks cut out of the same by the punch so that they ar'efrictionally held; and means for removing certain of the disks from the web at onetime and other disks at another time.

3. The combination in a cap punching machine of means for feeding a web of material; mechanism for punching a plurality of lines of disks from the web and thereafter returning them thereto; with a plurality of sets of successively acting strippers mount-- ed to remove the disks from the web after the latter has carried the same away from the punches.

4. The combination in a punching machine of a web-feeding device; punching mechanism including a plurality of lines of punches for cutting out a plurality of lines of disks from the web and then returning them thereto; with a plurality of sets of strippers mounted to remove the disks from the web after they have been carried thereby away from the punches, certain of said strippers being mounted to act on the disks before others.

5. The combination in a cap punching machine of web-feeding means; a frame; a punch head reciprocable therein; a plurality of sets of strippers carried by the punch head; mechanism for actuating the punch head; a plurality of sets of punches also carried by said head; and means carried by the punches for returning to the web the disks cut out of the same by the punches, the strippers of one set being mounted to engage the disks of one set of the same before the strippers of the other set come into operation.

6. The combination in a cap punching machine of web-feeding means; a frame; a punch head reciprocable therein; a plurality of sets of strippers carried by the punch head; mechanism for actuating the punch head; a plurality of sets of punches also carried by said head; and means carried by the punches for returning to the web the disks cut out of the same by the punches, the strippers of one set being mounted to engage the disks of one set of the same before the strippersof the other set come into operation; with means for directing certain of the lines of caps into separate receptacles.

7. The combination in a cap punching machine of means for forming and delivering caps in a plurality of lines; a conveyor placed to receive such lines of caps from said means; and a plurality of independent receptacles placed to receive the caps of the different lines.

8. The combination in a cap punching machine of means for forming and delivering In testimony whereof, I have signed my I name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WENDELL L. SHEPD.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. BRADLEY, WMHA. B. 

